People News

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A popular Boys & Girls Club in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood is welcoming a five-year, $1.5 million grant from True Value.

To celebrate the move, the club, community members and some 100 volunteers from around the country, came together just before the True Value Chicago Reunion to make building improvements and participate in a ribbon cutting. The volunteers were retailers, suppliers and employees of True Value Company.

Do it Best's executive team weighed in on some pre-market story lines heading into the co-op's May Market in Indianapolis, including a major anniversary, buy-one-get-ones and e-commerce initiatives.

The market kicks off Friday with merchandising updates and a deep-discount Sneak Peek sales event at the Indiana Convention Center. The event runs through Monday.

Here is the interview, conducted via email, with the co-op's Rich Lynch, VP marketing and Steve Markley, VP merchandise.

Central Garden & Pet Company has named a new chief financial officer from within its ranks.

Nicholas "Niko" Lahanas, who was worked with the company for over 10 years, will now assume the role of CFO.

During his time with the company, Lahanas held a variety of finance positions, most recently as SVP Finance, Operations Management & Reporting and CFO of Central’s Pet Segment.

His tenure also included serving as VP of Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis, and Director of Business Performance, focusing on business unit profitability.

Blount International, Inc. has promoted David Gillrie to the position of SVP global sales & marketing for the Forestry, Lawn and Garden (FLAG) division.

Gillrie previously served as president of Blount's Concrete Cutting and Finishing division and has been with the company since 2012.

Central Garden & Pet Company has named two new independent directors to its board, effective immediately.

Joining the company's existing seven directors are George Roeth and Thomas Colligan.

Roeth is a former exec at The Clorox Company, where he worked for 27 years. His most recent role was as COO and executive VP, during which time he led the execution of the strategic plan and delivered progress in sales, customer satisfaction and cost-cutting.

Central Garden & Pet Company has made a couple executive appointments. Effective immediately, J.D. Walker has been tapped to lead the Garden segment, with Dan Pennington leading the wild bird and private label business. Both will report to EVP Michael Reed.

Former Stanley Black & Decker chairman Nolan Archibald, who retired from the company in March of last year, received a compensation package totaling approximately $133 million last year, according to an annual proxy SEC filing the company published on Tuesday.

A $51.4 million merger bonus contributed to the unusually high payout, which was "based on the annual run-rate of cost savings achieved by the company" as of his retirement that were attributable to the merger of Stanley and Black & Decker in 2010.